


Frequency

by BleedingCoffee



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: AU, Ctrl-Z of character death, F/M, Gen, Post Promised Day, Royai - Freeform, Royai baby, because we're fixing the past, royai grandbaby
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-30
Updated: 2017-01-13
Packaged: 2018-09-13 10:33:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9119800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BleedingCoffee/pseuds/BleedingCoffee
Summary: Roy Mustang prepares to turn Amestris into a democracy but discovers his choices do not have the outcome he anticipated when his granddaughter calls from a bleak future and pleads with him to change course. Royai.





	1. Wavelength

**Author's Note:**

> AN: I enjoyed the movie and so here is fic with some of that flavor as a response to a Tumblr fic request for RoyAi . Also a quote that just stuck with me and screamed to be written. I know that it's kind of a popular headcanon in the fandom that Roy and Riza eventually pay for their crimes via execution so I played with the repercussions of that.
> 
> Warnings: Royai. Character death and then resurrection due to time manipulation- the Ctrl+Z of character death really.
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own FMA.

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

_Frequency_

Chapter 1

**Wavelength**

* * *

" _Your fire made mine burn brighter."_

The words were etched in a simple slab of granite and it was a personal tribute to a man she had never known. A simple six words that seemed poetic and not out of place on a tombstone, but they seemed so personal and poignant that they added warm to the cold stone and bleak graveyard. She had traced her finger over those words so many times hoping to understand them and finally her alchemy teacher told her something that had driven him to tears to explain the truth behind it.

" _After the funeral, those of us closest to him wanted a fitting ceremony. They wouldn't give a him a proper military burial because of the war crimes trial. His conviction meant he was stripped of all military honors and with that the rights to be buried in Central Cemetery and...it wasn't right. They took his life then they took it all again by denying him what he dedicated himself to. So I etched that in the stone with alchemy, and we all privately told him what he meant to us. How Roy Mustang had changed our lives, how he had picked us up from the depths of despair and drove us forward. How, he ignited a passion in all of us. How very sorry we were that this country turned on him because they feared his power and the loss of their own. Your grandfather was a great man and I know he would have chosen a different path had he known how things would have turned out. He was blinded by justice. He just wanted to do the right thing."_

It was then that it finally made an impact on her. She had grown up visiting this grave with her grandmother, then came back to visit her own father when he was killed and also laid to rest in disgrace. She and her mother went to Xing under the pretense of learning alchemy, but it had been for their own safety. He grandmother stayed behind, unwilling to leave her family and now she too laid in the ground beside them all.

The Mustang name once said with pride and awe, now it was spoken in hushed whispers by those who feared joining them in death. Amestris was not the country Roy Mustang tried to build, it had slid back into the dark ages of military control and the people were without a hero or options. The people who had been comfortably rich thanks to lucrative military contracts and deals didn't appreciate the reforms pushed on them by the Mustang regime. Power that had been firmly in the hands of certain families for generations was not easily torn from the hands of those who had already done the unthinkable to have it.

So here she stood, the last Mustang. Elizabeth Christine Mustang, daughter of Maes Mustang and granddaughter of Roy and Riza Mustang. Like those before her, she was an alchemist. She had apprenticed with Alphonse Elric and while in Xing had learned alkhestry. Like those before her, she embarked on a journey to save those she loved and her country at a young age of fourteen. With the help of Edward Elric, who had been working on alchemy theories for decades, she had a plan to try to change the past.

Even though the Elrics no longer believed in equivalent exchange, she certainly saw alchemy's law as something set in stone. Quite like these scripted words on this tombstone that had haunted her since the first time her little fingers touched them, there was something that simply could not be ignored. In changing the past there was a very good possibility that she would erase herself from the present. It could all be for nothing because the odds were that she could not convince a man she never met that he needed to listen to her. Even if my some miracle she succeeded then he could still end up a victim of politics. Her father could still end up dying trying to fight for what was right. Her grandmother, might still be shot by a "burglar" in her own home again. There were so many variables, but something needed to be set in motion to try to stop this.

So she read the words again and they gave her the courage to do what had to be done. _"Your fire made mine burn brighter."_ Flame Alchemy was never passed down in the family beyond him, that her grandmother had insisted upon, but the Flame Alchemist had ignited a fire in them all to do the right thing, to protect those they loved and find the courage to put it all above their own life. "I hope, I get the chance to meet you."

xxxxxxxxxx

Time travel was impossible. The reality of decomposition and reconstruction of a human body was one thing, manipulating time was an entirely other monster. Sure there were alchemists that had tried, usually in an attempt to find a fountain of youth, but there was little success in actually propelling time forward or back. So the task was to find a promising idea of how to transmit anything through time and work from there.

It would have been easier if alchemy wasn't a highly restricted government science. The military had learned to fear the power of alchemists at their disposal ages ago, but they learned to fear the _alchemists_ after the Promised Day. Roy Mustang lead a coup, Edward Elric took down a God. Together they shook the foundation of what powerful men considered the State Alchemists to be: human weapons and military dogs. They were supposed to obey the master and produce results that were both profitable and fearsome, the weren't supposed to use those skills to benefit themselves or the people. Sure there had been men like Solf Kimblee who went on killing sprees, but most alchemists devolved into rabid dogs not rose to be pack leaders. The system had failed to keep them in check, and the lesson was learned.

So once Mustang was out of the way, finally shot and put down, they corrected their mistakes. Alchemy was restricted. Access was granted to those under constant surveillance and books and notes were confiscated. Citizens were encouraged to report on others practicing alchemy for the good of their own safety, in less than a decade the once unrivaled alchemic stronghold of Amestris was without any alchemists that were not on the leash of the military.

It was the story Ed had told her, even he had been forced to stop teaching alchemy and burned his library to avoid it being confiscated. He was under surveillance since he was so outspoken about it and had been so closely connected to Mustang. Thankfully there would be no tarnish to the stories of the Fullmetal Alchemist and love for the 'hero of the people' remained strong enough to keep his family safe. For now.

Elizabeth appreciated the information and the lessons, the connections he set her up with and, most of all, the faith in her to go on this quest alone. It was how she now sat in an old abandoned laboratory, one of the old research facilities that had been part of Ed's own journey, and how she had enough radio equipment to complete her task thanks to Kain Fuery. Even after all these years, the bonds made by Roy Mustang remained strong and she knew now, more than ever, why he was considered to be so dangerous.

Today was a day that was pivotal in the lives of all Mustangs. It was the day that her grandmother Riza had told her was the day her husband finally decided that it was time to push for trail for his war crimes. The day her own father Maes had graduated the military academy. The day that was the decline of Amestris because when the Fuhrer went before parliament and announced he would step down and turn over the country to democratic election, his enemies feared him the most. Returning power to the people was worse than privatizing most of the military holdings, it transferred power away from them and not just money.

Roy Mustang would get his trial, receive his conviction for war crimes, and find his peace in the punishment of death by firing squad. What happened after his soul left his body left more than his immediately family suffering in the darkness. His absence cast a shadow so huge that it covered an entire country. Despite the controlling powers attempts to tarnish his name, she had never met a soul who didn't tell her about how much they missed him and how they wished he never died.

Elizabeth realized she was trying to put off the inevitable and she pulled out her notebook and sketched out the circle that she would need to convert this radio into something more powerful and further reaching than any flame a Mustang had sparked. The lab was still in ruins, equipment littered in every corridor and room made this a garbage pile radio tower. It was also located across the street from Central Command and the Fuhrer's residence.

The time for reflecting on history was over and she placed her hands on the array and energy glowed around the equipment. Once it subsided she sat there and waited, hoping there would be something different to tell her if it worked. She took a deep breath of stale air and put the headphones on and hoped for the best. She had yet to do anything, until she convinced Fuhrer Mustang to change his mind nothing would happen.

She was nervous now. Activating the array was simple, speaking into the radio was another. Ed was confident this transmutation would be successful, but they could not chance doing it more than once. This had to work, it was all she had and it was the product of years of research of one of the most capable alchemists the world had ever known. Elizabeth felt her heart pound as she started moving the jack around to different ports to see if she could get some chatter on the date. A hour progressed and finally she found the records room. Someone was calling down for reports and she heard a date, 'yesterday' was long before she was even born.

It worked. She couldn't believe it! Excitement coursed through her and her hands shook as she tried to find a note in her book about the direct line to the Fuhrer's office provided by Fuery himself. Something he never forgot because her grandmother Riza called all the time. She wasn't sure if she was more excited that this transmutation circle worked or that she would finally be able to hear her grandfather's voice for the first time, not just on archaic old recordings.

" _Hello?"_

"Hi?" Elizabeth said as she heard a voice that sounded a lot like those tapes. Was this him? There was a pause as the man on the other end tried to figure out who was calling the head of the country and didn't know how to do anything but squeak out a weak 'Hi.'"

" _This is Fuhrer Mustang, with whom am I speaking?"_

He was annoyed. Well that was a great start. "Elizabeth."

" _Oh...Elizabeth?"_

That was a weird change in tone. He went from pissed off to flirty instantly. It made her uncomfortable but not nearly as uncomfortable as it was about to get.

" _It's been a while since I heard from you Elizabeth. To what do I owe the pleasure?"_

Ew, he was definitely flirty and suggestive. He practically purred the words. This was her grandfather!? "I need to talk about what you are going to do tonight."

" _Oh Elizabeth! You have always been such a direct and demanding woman. Please do tell, I'd hate to be the victim of your wrath. Well...maybe not. I have always loved your harsh discipline."_

She had to take off the headphones and just let loose a whole body shiver. Now she was disgusted and mad! How could he cheat on her grandmother with this woman Elizabeth! She put the headphones back on and said, "Roy Mustang! You are a married man with a wife that loves you and a son that idolizes you!"

" _Riza?"_

"Yes, your wife!"

" _Who is this!?"_

"Who do you think it is?" She queried.

" _Listen, I don't know how you learned of my wife's code name but I promise you that I will find out as soon as I have this line traced and you brought in for questioning!"_

"Her code name?" Elizabeth gasped. She was named...after a role playing persona that her grandmother used for phone sex? Maybe she wasn't going to be that upset when she was erased from the future. What the hell!?

" _Turn yourself in or run, the end result will be the same. Goodbye."_

"No wait!" This hadn't taken the turn she expected. Why did she get so distracted by this? She knew why, despite the alchemy and the dedication to seeing this though she didn't actually believe this was happening. She let herself get distracted. He was mumbling something, the voice getting more distant. He was hanging up. So she screamed, "USO-800!"

There was a long pause and finally he spoke. _"What did you just say?"_

"USO-800. It was your best friend Maes Hughes's military identification number. It was destroyed from the records after he died. The only person who would remember that, who had high enough clearance to know it...to hear him say it when he was drunk, was you."

" _So how do you know it Elizabeth?"_

"Because you told it to my father when he was little. When you told him what the combination to the safe was and he asked why that number was significant. You told him and he...told me when I was little. My name is Elizabeth Christine Mustang and I am your granddaughter."

There was a long pause then a chuckle. _"Right."_

She didn't even believe it herself and she was the one saying it! It was ludicrous! She panicked and started unloading on him, time was not in her favor. "You're going home tonight for his graduation dinner. You're going to tell grandma that you have finally succeeded in doing what you set out to, Amestris is on it's way to a democracy and it doesn't need the Flame Alchemist to reign over it anymore. That you need to die along with the old militaristic regime and you want to be put on trial for Ishval. Please, please don't do it. The world is so much worse without you! Amestris isn't able to stand on it's own. Your family isn't ok. My Dad dies trying to fight against these people who want to drag the country back into the dark ages. Grandma dies because she refuses to let your memory die, knowing it gives hope to the hopeless. Please, please don't hand yourself over to die. As condemned as you feel, you condemn us all."

There was silence and a few short choppy breaths.

"You're the only one I can trust to do this and I don't even know you. I never got to know you but you affected everyone so much that your fire still burns even though they tried to extinguish it. Please Grandpa, please. I know this sounds crazy, but what you are about to do is not good for anyone but your enemies. " She started to cry. This was her one chance and she blew it.

" _Elizabeth, was it?"_

"Yes?"

" _How are you making this phone call?"_

"The Elrics. I apprenticed with Alphonse, he taught me alchemy. Ed helped me figure out a way to send a message through time, via sound waves. The transmutation array manipulated the transmission frequency on the equipment Kain Fuery gave me. Ed gave me the location to get the best signal. Lab 3. Across the street from your desk. Just...in the future. I still don't believe this is really you."

" _Alright Elizabeth, you have my attention. I'll give you fifteen minutes but then I have to leave for dinner."_

She started crying which didn't help matters any. He was going to go have dinner with her father! He was still alive. They all were. "What do you want to know?"


	2. Resonate

 

 

_Frequency_

Chapter 2

**Resonate**

* * *

Roy had a lot to think about as he made his way home. His mind was going in so many directions at once; trying to dissect the alchemy that Elizabeth described, figure out any way she could have learned that _private_ information, the ramifications of his choices and finally the words of a crying girl who told him she didn't want to lose her Dad and wished she could meet her grandpa. He was so absorbed in his thoughts he didn't even realize the front door was open and Riza was there waiting for him.

"You're late."

He looked up at the smiling face of beautiful wife and immediately was hit with the painful thought of leaving her behind. Perhaps his notion of redemption, demanding a trail for his part in the Ishval extermination, was too myopic. They had talked about this for years, but he knew she never anticipated being pardoned; this would be their final journey together. However so few things went as planned and the military refused to try a cadet as an officer. He knew that. So that fact hit home for him as he looked at her smile. Riza had been so young, she was pulled from the academy and sent to war before she even graduated. It wasn't a technicality, it was fact. She's be spared prosecution, but not spared a life without him. "Sorry, I had a lot to think about today."

"I know. Maes is grown up and leaving us." She said and walked over to embrace her husband as he stepped onto the porch. Emotions were running high today; pride at seeing her son graduate the academy, then a wave of crushing reality hit as she realized he was leaving for his first post soon. The academy was one thing, he came home on weekends for dinner, but that freedom was over. Visits would be down to just furloughs and there was a possibility he would have someone else he wanted to spend that time with eventually. This was much harder than she thought it would be.

"Wanna make more?" Roy asked and heard her laugh at that.

"With what? Human transmutation?" She asked and stepped away so he could come into the house. They both knew she was too old for that now.

"I'm game if you want to try." He said and she flashed him an admonishing look. "The old fashioned way, _dear,_ I don't want to lose what Truth will take if I perfrom human transmutation for a new kid."

"Not the celebration I came home for." Maes Mustang said and walked into the foyer with his hands in his pockets after overhearing his parents talk. "You two have been enjoying not having me home I see."

Roy walked over and gave his kid a hug, something he couldn't do at the graduation ceremony but damn if he didn't want to. "Proud of you kid."

"I got my assignment." Maes said as his father released him. He knew how to deal with his father and it was in quick, direct attacks to surprise him. Unfortunately the old man knew it was coming and just shrugged slightly. He narrowed his eyes at him.

"I had nothing to do with it." Roy said and put his hands up in admittance of his innocence. He _might_ have laughed when his staff told him about his boy's assignment, but he certainly didn't push for it.

"East City." Maes mumbled. "Really?"

"Sorry. Did you want me to abuse my power and have you assigned to Briggs?" Roy asked and Maes gave a weak shrug. His childhood crush on Olivier Armstrong only faded a little as he grew older. "Last thing I need to hear from her is how well my son is doing serving _under her._ No thanks."

"What's wrong with East City?" Riza asked. She knew exactly what was wrong, she remembered the days leading up to her own Academy graduation as cadets wondered where they would be shipped out to for their first posts. The weekend after graduation was spent calling everyone to find out about the officers they would be serving under and the area they would be moving into. It was tradition, but she wasn't in Maes's position back in her day. No, she had already been to war and was returning to the academy as a formality. She had already secured her post in East City thanks to her grandfather and she was more nervous about seeing Roy again and applying to be on his staff. This time however, she experienced how it should have been as she watched her son open up the manila envelope in front of her. She could see it in his face when he opened the letter after graduation and cursed under his breath, their boy wanted to strike out on his own and establish himself as something more than the Fuhrer's son or The Fullmetal Alchemist's apprentice. He wanted to find himself and instead he found himself being placed somewhere safe because of who he was. She wanted to be sympathetic, but she was still his mother and was glad he was going where he was.

"It's pretty far from all the action." Maes heard his father grunt. "God _Dad_ , get your head out of the gutter and stop thinking about General Armstrong."

"Sorry, what were you saying? I think you were complaining about being stationed in the peaceful East where you were born, speak the dialect of all the neighboring countries and have a healthy respect for Ishvalian culture? Oh and you're lucky that you even got a post somewhere other than Central for being the son of the Fuhrer and a major pain in the ass security risk." Roy raised his eyebrow and the boy narrowed his eyes at him again. Too much like his mother sometimes. "Is that what you were going to say, Lieutenant Mustang?"

"Yes, _so_ lucky." Maes said and laughed. "Lucky the people at Eastern Headquarters still fear the name of a certain Lieutenant that happens to be my Mom."

"Time for dinner boys." Riza said sharply and watched them both snap to attention. She would miss this and wished that maybe they had been more selfish and wanted more kids.

"So what did the original Maes say about my picture?" Maes asked and gave his Dad a sly smile. He had marched up after the ceremony and asked for a photo with the Fuhrer. His Dad was surprised he would break protocol like that, he had always insisted that no special considerations be made for him because of who he was, and this was pretty special. Very special because he grabbed the Fuhrer's hat, made him hold it and then stepped beside his slightly shorter father and lifted his hat and grinned. Just like the picture on the mantle of his Dad and his best friend who he was named after. To ensure he got the stern smile like the original he uttered the words, "Is that a gray hair?" and Mom snapped the picture.

"Your nakesake would probably ask ' _Is_ that a gray hair?'" Roy answered and his son started laughing. His son lived life and emitted happiness just like Hughes had. His son wasn't nearly as obnoxious about it as Hughes had been, but there was a playful side to him that he and Riza could only reminisce about having. They gave him everything they didn't have and he was so damned proud of the man he had become even if it amounted to him using alchemy to develop a photo quickly so he could have prints made for him to leave at a grave. The kid knew he would go there after the ceremony, he knew how much it would mean to him to share this picture. Now he wondered if it was really true that his son would be in his own grave at an earlier age than Hughes was. It hurt to consider it, it hurt more when he remembered the crying girl on the other end of the phoneline who never quite recovered from losing her father. Just like Hughes.

* * *

Riza was in bed reading when Roy finally came in to go to sleep. She waited for him to crawl under the covers and snuggle up against her before she spoke. "What has been bothering you all night?"

Roy knew he couldn't hide anything from her. He had been almost 80% absorbed in conversation with Maes at dinner, but every break in the talking allowed him to dive right back into the questions he had been trying to work out earlier. They were used to it, it was hard for him to not bring things home from work, but there was a particularly somber edge to his thoughts tonight. He knew they both caught him staring at them at least twice, the mere thought of them dying made his heart ache and his stomach unsettled. "I got a phone call before I left work. Is it even possible to be haunted by your past and future at the same time?"

Riza pet his head. She knew what was burdening him. There wasn't much they hadn't talked about and the transition the country was making was always number one these days. "We have both known this day has been coming Roy. For a long time. We've had a good life, even with everything horrible that has happened, it's been good. However we're at that point where the country doesn't need us to stand on it's own anymore. Maes is grown up and we raised him to understand that we regretted our actions..."

He heard her choke up. Maes didn't need them anymore but there was so much in his life they would miss out on. He would take the state alchemy exam in the Fall and was probably the most prepared candidate there had ever been. They'd see him commissioned, but that might be the last milestone they saw. They might never see him married. _They'd never see their grandchild._ "I'm prepared to put things in motion tomorrow. We've talked about this before but things are looking like a very plausible reality."

"Roy, this was all part of the plan."

He rolled over and looked at her. "Is it selfish? Is it selfish to feel that I am a remnant of the old Bradley regime that tainted this country and that there is nothing I can do to redeem myself other than die for my sins as well?" God that sounded like he was repeating what was said earlier. But it _was_ his words and thoughts. How the hell did Elizabeth know what he was going to say _to his wife_ tonight?

"You know my answer." She said. "We've done our duty to correct the wrongs that were done to Ishval and Amestris, and if we go any further that would be selfish. We'd be enjoying our lives built on the foundation of those we killed. Like building a home on a graveyard, the only reason we don't see ghosts at every turn is because we keep our eyes forward. To this goal, and we are at the top. They've caught up with us."

"I got a call tonight Riza, one that has shaken me more than any nightmare I had of our past. One that reminded me that this country is still at the mercy of those who hold power, even if we have untangled the choke hold of roots of the military from every facet of the economy."

"Who called you?" She asked.

He didn't want to tell her because saying it made him feel crazy and invalidated everything he just said. The impact it had on him was real and he needed to have Riza's honest thoughts and not her concern that maybe he just mentally snapped. "An alchemist. Someone who can see cause and reaction more clearly than I can anymore because I try to focus on too many things."

"Probably because you never wear your damned glasses." She snorted.

He smiled. God he loved her. He didn't want to disappoint her. "If...I want to be tried by a jury of my peers then it should be by the entire populous of Amestris, not a military court. The military always has it's own agenda and that is to protect it's own strength and power. If put on trial for war crimes, the details will not be released and once again the state will keep secrets to protect itself and the image of the army. A few of us, charged with a heinous crime, put on trial and executed will allow the blame for that war to be placed on us. It will minimize the damage."

"What alternatives are there?" She asked. "That is protocol. You don't want to damage the strength of this country's defenses by completely destroying the people's faith in who protects them from our enemies. It took years to recover after the Promised Day, the whole country was shaken. The military restructured, Central destroyed, borders suddenly being tested, the economy tailspinned...we felt the shockwaves of the coup for years. That's not what you want anyway, the top brass was dealt with..."

"I am the top brass now. I am the Fuhrer. I am the man who is going to scare this country again by putting their safety, security and trust in jeopardy by admitting I was evil all along too." He said and felt her fingers in his hair. There was no easy answer. He thought a trial would be quick, do the least amount of damage, but now he wasn't sure. "I am terrified that all the sacrifices everyone made will be for nothing if the wrong people step in in that chaos and take over."

"Then maybe it's not time to transition to democracy?" She wasn't sure what his questions were anymore and knew he wasn't sure either. He needed to talk it out.

"No, it's ready." Roy said. "I am making my speech tomorrow."

Riza watched him sit up and then stare at the pictures of their family on the wall. Photos of family vacations, their baby Maes growing up, the team from before the Promised Day and always the graduation picture of Roy and Hughes. It was a display of their life, everything they worked so hard for. The people who made it all worth it. The people they wanted to protect.

Roy got out of bed and went back to his uniform that was on the chair and pulled out the picture from this afternoon. He placed it next to the one of his own graduation. Maes had replicated it perfectly. The little shit must have been planning this for years. "Your fire made mine burn brighter."

She rolled over and looked at his back as he stared at the pictures trying to see a truth in them that he needed to determine his next move. "That's poetic. Sounds like something you read on a tombstone. Did you see that when you went to see Hughes today? When you showed him that picture from graduation?"

Roy felt tears well up in his eyes. The though of her reading that on _his_ tombstone, of having another little girl visit a graveyard more than a playground, hit him like a clapper hitting a church bell ring over him. It made him shudder and slam his eyelids shut, it made him dizzy and hurt in in every fiber of his being. Too many kids in their lives had stared at silent stone markers in some cemetery asking God why they couldn't have their parents back. He and Riza, Ed and Al, Winry, Elicia...too damn many. And then there was Elizabeth, fictional or not, who he'd condemn to that fate too, sitting there asking him why he had to die and give up on his country in it's most pivotal hour. Except she had found a way to cry out across the barrier of death and time and tell him how much they all needed him. "What does it mean to you? If someone asked you that in regards to me?"

She didn't have to really think about that long. "From that first day I met you, Roy Mustang, you brought a warmth into my life that I didn't have for a long time. "

"Wow. Now I know where Maes got his pervert gene from. You were like _fourteen_ when I started my apprenticeship." Roy said as he tried to lift the mood. He needed to joke more for himself than her, he had to chase away the tears before he turned back to look at her again. He walked over and crawled back into bed and placed a kiss on her forehead.

She laughed and slapped him. "Well, maybe a little, you were hot even if you were obviously a momma's boy. "

"I can't believe our relationship is built on these lies. You only wanted me for my body from day one." He gave her an exaggerated pout.

"No, you were just a pretty face until I put you to work on the farm and we put some muscles on those weak city boy arms." She laughed as he hit her with a pillow. She grabbed it and hit him right back.

He turned and crawled back over to her to give her a kiss. "Really though, what does that phrase mean to you?"

She noticed his eyes were shining a little and knew he was struggling with a tempest of emotions inside. He was looking for something to calm him, to get everything under control so he could think clearly. That was when he always turned to her. She brushed his hair from his eyes and said. "You, were a turning point in my life. That house had always been dark and cold, you were the light. You brought life back into that place and nothing my father could say to you could extinguish that passion of yours. You...ignited that passion in me. Instead of studying in my room and being afraid to let my father know I was using his books, you asked me to study with you. You complimented my cooking and asked to learn farm chores. You made me cry with laughter as my friend and with tears of joy when you complimented me on my marksmanship skills. You gave me the courage to be myself...instead of hiding it all."

He wasn't doing very well hiding his tears now. Dammit.

"And that was only the beginning. Over the years everything, the good and bad, has helped me emerge stronger. I'm sure the immediately reaction should have been to say something about flame alchemy, but that is a part of us...the part that forged us...but it doesn't fuel us. That was why my father was consumed by it, because everything in his being was centered around that damned alchemy, but you were never like that. You controlled the fire, it scorched you when you let someone else control how you used it, but you never let it take over so that you were the alchemist controlled by the flame. Not until that fight with Envy, that was when I saw you disappear into the flames and that was the only time I saw it take control. Even then, I felt it burn in me too because there was no way I was letting you be taken away like that. I wasn't going to let that curse take you past the brink of redemption. So...to answer your question...you are the reason that I have experienced a full spectrum of all the human emotions in this world. Something I may have never allowed myself had you not sparked that light in my life. "

"I don't want to be the reason that fire dies." He said and choked back tears.

"I have been ready to accept my judgment for years Roy, you know that."

"It's not about us though, you have done so much for everyone you have met. Everyone. Look at Maes, look at _our_ kid. He's amazing. You accomplished something alchemy could never do, you made a human life and you raised this amazing boy who walked the same path we did today. He walked across that stage and graduated the military academy, accepted his commission and is ready to save the damned world. Unlike us though, he's not so naive as we were. He is better than us and I hope this world is better for him, but I'm scared that we aren't done yet. I want to make sure he never has to obey an order like we had to, to murder our own citizens. I want our grand kids to grow up learning alchemy as the pure and incredible science it should be instead of the government monitored power that it can become. I want to be free of this burden we carry, but I feel like we have taken on a bigger burden of keeping this ship on course because the seas are going to be rough at first. I...God Riza... I don't know what to do. Where is the line between selfish and selfless here?"

"How is it selfish to answer for our actions?" She asked.

"Ishval was _thirty_ years ago." He said and rubbed his eyes. "Most of the officers that participated are already dead. Dredging up the past now, will stir up everything that has settled. Emotions, fear, lies...injustice. I don't want to sweep the past under the rug, I just don't know anymore if it's doing right by the victims or just making more."

"Then what do you want to do?" She asked knowing he was leaning towards making a decision.

"I will make my speech tomorrow." He said and found his way thorough all the questions and conflicted emotions clouding his judgment. "I will announce that Amestris is going to transition to democracy, that it is ready to be lead by a President chosen by the people and that the power of this country is now in their hands."

"And?"

"And...I want to announce..." Roy swallowed hard. Years, so many years, they had pushed forward to reach this day when they would finally say they had done enough. Retiring, enjoying the spoils of a war they had been fighting for so long was still not right. He had to remain in service to his country until his dying breath to pay for what he did, but it came at a disservice to his own family who he selfishly wanted to protect above all else. "I want to announce...my candidacy for president."

She raised her eyebrows and was actually speechless. Then she thought about it, how this would put him on trail by the entire population of their country as they assessed his ability to be a leader going forward into a new era. He would undoubtedly discuss his role in Ishval and leave it up to the people to determine if his actions were deserving of punishment for his war crimes. He wouldn't tarnish the military or anyone else in the process. His political rivals would be chomping at the bit to drag him through the streets and would serve as the prosecution. It would be a brutal campaign, but only after that fire of judgment could he possibly feel worthy of his position here on Earth and not in the ground punished for mistakes of his past. Still, Roy often underestimated how much his people and this country loved him and he would do good to see that no matter what the end result. That would be peace. "You're an amazing man Roy Mustang and this is the answer to your question I couldn't give. This is how you make everyone else's flame burn brighter because you are not surrendering to a fate, you are rising to the occasion and bringing up everyone else with you."

"Will you follow me?"

She stroked his face. "Why do you keep asking me that?"

"I would never consider such a move without consulting you first." He smiled and placed his lips on hers for a kiss, warmth filled him and he felt a weight lift. This was a better move, this felt right. "I also need to hear from you that this is the right path. That I'm not losing my way now that things are nearing completion and being selfish because I'm scared. Scared of losing my family, a family we denied ourselves for so long because we didn't think we were worthy of this right to happiness...and our family has made me so happy. I need to hear that...I'm not just deferring judgement because I love my life too much."

Riza brushed his hair from his eyes, his face displayed his conflicted feelings so well and she hated that they had to question every move in their lives like this, but she understood it well. She wished that he didn't have to question if he had _done enough_ when he had already done more than any other leader of Amestris. In death he could at least rest, but as long as he drew breath he would continue to serve his country and she knew it was already taking years off his life. "I think the country will always need a man like you, because so few men would devote themselves to selflessly doing their job as it's leader. Of course I will stand by you."

He felt a wave of relief and cupped her cheek as she looked at him with with the warm glow of adoration. He didn't deserve her, but he would have never made it this far without her. "Thank you."

* * *

AN: Yes, it's a popular headcanon about the war crimes trial but not exactly one I embrace. I _do_ believe they would name their son after Maes Hughes, historically it was a popular thing to do in honor of a person you held in high regard and I am a history whore. I also headcanon that the RoyAi child has a crush on Olivier Armstrong and you can pry that from my cold dead hands.

This should be four or five parts. If you have read my stuff, you know that I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing and thus have no authority to make that call.


	3. Amplify

_Frequency_

Chapter 3

**Amplify**

* * *

It was a sleepless night and Elizabeth played out every possible way things could have gone wrong as she lay on a salvaged cot from one of the many storage rooms in the abandoned lab. Her father used to say it was the curse of an alchemist, to see the world broken down into it's elements and reactions, but it seemed like that curse had been a veil over her eyes most of her life. She never had to think about the cause and reactions, everything had been presented to her in the form of "what if" or "this wasn't what was supposed to happen." The real curse of the Mustang family was that good intentions went horribly awry.

She hoped tonight wouldn't go down as another horrible failure.

The problem was in that she didn't know how to find out if anything she told her grandfather made any difference. She could possibly cease to exist a few minutes from now or walk outside in the morning and see a different world. Ed had tried to narrow down a window of time when a change could be seen and gave a list of people she could visit who would be key characters in any event that took place. Fuhrer Mustang planned to speak with parliament first thing in the morning. Any ripples would be seen after that. Until then it was a waiting game.

There was also huge unanswered question as to what _could_ happen. Would she remember the first time line? Would her notes change? Would the history book in her satchel change or remain as it was part of the world prior to being brought into this transmutation circle that interfered with time? Would she have in her possession one of the last copies of Roy Mustang's biography written by Vato Falman as he wrote it after the execution as a tribute to his commander? So many questions to keep her company tonight, so instead she decided to plan out her day.

The first place to check for changes to history would be in the graveyard. Her grandmother always told her that there was a small ammo can buried under the flower pot beside Maes Hughes's grave. It was where pictures would be left, stored in a water tight container, for a deceased best friend who missed out on so much life and too many events. It was one of the few remaining photo collections of her family, as _so much_ had been destroyed over the years as those in power tried to erase the Mustang line for good. When history was written by the victor and all evidence to the contrary destroyed, only memory and legend remained and that would fade out with each passing generation. So even if this transmutation ended up erasing her, it felt like it was inevitable that she would fade out along with the rest of the Mustang line.

Elizabeth rubbed her eyes and tried to silence the voices in her head. So many things to think about and no answers for hours. So she opened her notebook and started to take down notes about everything she and her grandfather had talked about in case she needed to reflect on what mistakes she made when she was babbling information. In case she didn't remember any of it in a few hours.

* * *

"So today is the day Hughes." Roy said and took a deep breath and looked out over the tombstone in front of him and to the rest of the graves lining the green hills of Central Cemetery. The sun was rising and chasing away shadows, signifying a new day was about to begin. "Today is the day I finally get my damned money back from Ed."

Roy smirked and looked back down at the stone in front of him. He still relied on Hughes to be a trusted adviser, even if he was just here to talk. It felt good to just talk and not have to watch what he said. "We're having a graduation party tonight at the house. I hope this announcement of mine isn't going to overshadow the real reason for celebration. Everyone's come into town for Maes's graduation, you'd be amazed at how many kids Ed has. I almost feel bad taking the money from him."

He was met with silence again but he was used to it. There was comfort here now instead of emptiness and guilt like it had been when Hughes's loss was still so open and raw. "Remember our graduation? Who would have thought I would be the one giving the speech and congratulating those cadets on that stage when we were there so many years ago. It still feels the same, every year I go there it's like the academy is stuck in time and it is probably when it gets to me the most that you aren't here. We thought we were ready for anything...God we were so naive."

Roy tilted his head up as the wind blew. "I guess I still am. I thought that I could hand over control of the country and have the many changes I implemented remain. I was a fool who thought that once the people had the power in their hands they would fight to keep it. Things have not been an easy transition from the old ways, but it's much better. I think people see that now, where before it was met with fear. Funny how they feared and hated the military but then were more scared when things started to change and the military wasn't in charge of everything. I suppose that's exactly the reason I can see it going back to the old ways."

Roy fiddled with his pocket watch. He could still recall Truth smiling at him, laughing at him about his _vision_. It wasn't naive, it was something worth fighting for and too many had died to see it come to fruition. "I'm going to go into Parliament today to tell them it's the day they feared, it's the day I am taking away the military's power and making sure this country works for the people...that's not changing. However instead of asking to be judged for what I have done, I am going to announce that I am going to run for President of this new democracy. Still sounds like I'm still trying to control the country doesn't it? The thing is...I don't want to anymore. I'm tired Hughes. God, I'm so tired."

He felt bad saying it and the truth was Hughes was the only he would admit that to. He wished he could still remember how it felt to have his best friend hug him and give him the encouragement he always rolled his eyes at. God if he had only known then what he knew now..."Still, there's work to do so I can't just lay down and quit right? Unlike some of us."

Roy gave a smile, he came here enough to wear down a path in the grass to this grave and had given up being so formal when he talked to the man six feet below him. He put his hands into his pockets and took a deep breath. Today was Friday, there would be a lot of officials anxious to get work done to go home for the weekend and he was one of them. Maes might have a three day weekend so he could prepare to start a new career on Monday, but the rest of them had to complete a full day of upending the nation before he could settle down at that table and enjoy seeing old friends tonight. "See you later Hughes."

* * *

The labs were different when Elizabeth walked out of the basement in the morning. They were still empty but not in the state of disrepair they had been in. The equipment was more updated, the plaster was still in decent shape and the entire place was covered in plastic waiting for someone to walk in and fire up the power again. There was no graffiti, no tipped cabinets, nothing that screamed it was abandoned without care. In fact it was the opposite. Like it was stuck in time. It sent a chill through her because the change was noticeable and she couldn't deny that something had indeed happened. This was real.

She was careful to take her satchel and use alchemy to change the door into a section of wall to keep out anyone looking. There was a good chance this was still under military patrol as vandals would have had their chance to pick it clean by now if it was decommissioned. She was careful on her way out, counting the steps and writing them down in case something changed while she was gone. Then it was out into the corridor where the windows allowed the sun's light to shine on the tile floors. She looked out to see Central command towering above and that the sun was high enough to clear the massive structure. Enough time had passed, by now her grandfather had already spoken to Parliament. She looked down at her watch and prepared for the journey out into the world to see what had changed.

Sneaking out of the laboratory was more difficult than it had been to get in. It was clearly still being used as a storage building and she was surprised to see there was a subway access next door. It had been one of her grandfather's major projects that he wanted to implement to bring Central into the future. The old tunnels that had been home to homunculus, mannequin soldiers and an evil under their feet, would be utilized as public transportation to help aid the growing traffic issues. He didn't want to implement the project until the railroads had been privatized, knowing this would be a huge boost to the economy and private sector. This was a good sign. Fuhrer Mustang was never was able to push to have this done because the military regained control of the railways after his death and retained it for their own use.

She felt optimistic. With a little bit of earth alchemy she moved some dirt to make a tunnel of her own under the security fence, then filled it back in when she slipped out. Then it was on to the subway entrance to see if her money would still be worth anything so she could take an easy route to the cemetery. She noticed a lot of uniforms and felt her optimism die a little. This was past the rush hour for work and there was a lot of military personal. Unnerved she took a different route.

The flag of Amestris flew from every pole, every building and was on every road sign. It was on the bank, the hospital, the railway station and the car sales lot. It wasn't patriotism, it was branding. The military must have taken control again, but things _were_ different. What she did yesterday changed the world but not nearly enough. She could have checked the pages of her history book to see if they were the same, but she needed to see something first. She had to see if new gravestones appeared in the cemetery signifying that Roy Mustang retained his military honors or by some miracle was still alive.

Elizabeth tried to walk calmly down the street as she looked at storefronts that were now occupied by different vendors than yesterday. She felt more alone than ever, without a companion on this journey and no longer in the world she grew up in. Yesterday she was convinced that her transmutation could only be met with success or failure, now she saw the true effects of alchemy done without complete knowledge of the end result. This was experimental, everything about it, and she was seeing the unpredictable results of that experiment. She could very possibly be completely alone, nobody remembering her or missing her, and that was a more frightening fate than death or dismemberment.

She looked at a phone booth on the corner and considered calling Resenbool just to see if Ed answered. She could pretend to be calling for an appointment or simply a wrong number. There was almost a gravitational pull to the phone, just to verify he still remembered her. However she was scared of knowing and possibly alerting someone to her locations so she crossed the street and continued on to Central Cemetery instead. She hoped that the changes allowed her grandfather to be buried with honors and that he might be located there now. That was what she focused on. The memory of his gravestone and the feeling of tracing those letters on her fingertips.

It was a long 2 hour walk. There was a small directory at the entrance gate, one that designated the locations of all the famous people interred in the ground here, and she picked out the name immediately: _Mustang. Central Cemetery East._ She took a deep breath of relief and tried not to start running towards the grave site. It was already afternoon and the sun was high above her when she found it. Certainly she could have planned this better, but there was too much to plan for. Any inconveniences were cast to the wayside. She arrived at the tombstone and was shocked to see that his date of death had only changed by two years. She sank to her knees and looked over at her grandmother's grave and blinked away a tear. Then she saw that the date had changed too.

_Riza Mustang_

_1887-1939_

_Beloved Wife and Mother_

" _Your fire made mine burn brighter"_

Her heart stopped as she stared at the etching in the granite. She didn't breathe and could hear everything around her: birds chirping, squirrels scurrying around in the tries, the flag whipping around on it's pole on the hill. Finally she had to take a breath and reached out to run her fingers over the quote she had touched so many times on her grandfather's gravestone, but now they were etched in her grand _mother_ 's. A quote he knew because she had told him last night, a quote that Alphonse Elric _had_ etched into his stone with alchemy. A quote that made tears streak down her cheeks as she realized a flame was extinguished too soon because of what she did and she indirectly killed her grandmother.

She sat there and cried, trying to restore her focus by telling herself that Riza Mustang died the same year that she was trying to change last night. The same year something she did _killed_ her grandmother! She looked away and saw her surname on another stone to her right. She rubbed her eyes clear of tears and focused on it with her blurry vision and saw the name Maes Mustang etched in it. Her hand went over her mouth to stifle the cry. Her father still died. _Everyone_ still died.

Suddenly a wave of memories hit her and almost made her vomit. Her old memories were still there but also...memories of visiting this stone with her Dad. She reached out and touched the dates on her grandmother's grave, there was no way she had even met her.

" _I wish you could have met her Elizabeth. She was a great woman."_

And more memories came flooding forward. Her father could never really tell her the details without tearing up. She had been shot trying to protect the man she loved. The Fuhrer went on to be elected president, wanting to make her dreams come true of a better world, but worked himself to death before his term was up. Maes Mustang died...again...in her memories...except now he was killed during a speech against Parliament taking control after the vice president finished out Mustang's term. Killed. _Right in front of her eyes._

It took her too long to get up on her feet and start walking, but she was a complete mess and the last thing she needed was for someone to ask why the Mustang family plot had brought her to her knees. She kept repeating to herself, I can fix this. I have to fix this. I will make it right. There is still time.

She stood and started walking towards Maes Hughes's grave. She made a show of checking her satchel for a notebook to look like she was a tourist, checking out the historical markers. When she lifted the flap to check her bag, the biography written by Vato Falman was still there. She left it there to read later, not wanting to go over the details while she walked out in public. She paused by Brigadier General Hughes's grave and pretended like she dropped something, then crawled over, lifted the flower pot and pulled the ammo can out from underneath it. She quickly cracked it open and looked at the last item that had been laid on top.

It was a picture of her grandmother with a Shiba Inu puppy. A little red and white ball of fluff that was making her smile as she cuddled it. This was the last photo Roy Mustang left here?

She took a deep breath as a new memory of her father's dog flashed before her eyes. A red and white Shiba who tolerated her antics as a baby and let her fall asleep in his soft fur. Her best friend. Just like the dog, Black Hayate, her father had when growing up, just a different color. This...was Blaze. She sat back and felt tears stream down her face as she felt how much she loved that dog. Losing him was like losing the last thing her father had given her. He had been the one thing she had that tied her to her family and he _was_ family. She cried into his fur the day her father was killed, and so many days after that.

Blaze had been a gift from her Dad to his mother on the night of his graduation party. He was a last minute purchase as he was out with friends when he heard the news that Fuhrer Mustang was stepping down as soon as an election for president was decided; an election for president of a new Amestris, one under democratic rule. Lieutenant Maes Mustang had stood on the street and listened to the broadcast; The Fuhrer speaking about how the country was now in the hands of it's people...where it always belonged. If that statement made him proud then the next announcement that the Fuhrer would be running for the office of president, made him grin with relief. So he went and bought the dog he wanted to have ever since they lost the last one, because he knew his father wasn't about to give up on life. He wanted his Mom to have a dog again because it always made her so happy even if his father was a complete mess when their short life came to an end, and she was clearly upset about him leaving for his post. She needed a dog to focus on, especially since their lives were about to be turned upside down again.

The stories, the emotions and the impact of it all, made her head swim. She was dizzy and nauseous and just overwhelmed with the emotions of _every_ memory she just gained. Then there was the fact that this was the _last_ good thing Roy Mustang wanted to share with his best friend signifying that his life ended the day his wife's did, even if he lived for a few more years. That couldn't happen. She was going to stop this. She looked in the ammo can again and saw a picture of a younger Elicia Hughes in uniform at the graduation party. Roy Mustang would not forget to share that picture with his friend. She lifted that photo and saw her favorite photo, the one where her Dad had replicated his own father's graduation picture. It made her heart hurt seeing him smile like that knowing she still couldn't save him. Disgusted with herself she threw the photo back in there and closed it before covering it back up. She was going to fix this.

The walk to the library was done at a slower pace, her whole body ached from her morning exercise and the discovery that her efforts had been for nothing. The pain of watching her father killed before her eyes was so real that she almost broke down a few times on her way there. She had to wipe away the tears and focus, there were a few adults noticing her breakdown and she was sure someone might consider her a lost child and report her to the authorities if she wasn't confident and focused on what she was doing.

She walked into the library and to a card catalog and looked up 'Mustang'. There were several biographies written about him and she noticed a familiar author's name: Breda, Heymans. She took a pencil and wrote down the call numbers and went to the aisle to grab the book which was dusty and older. She opened it as she walked to a table, the book flopped open to the most popular page, the picture of President Mustang. There were hearts drawn on the page and initials. She rolled her eyes. Somethings didn't change at all. That was always the most popular picture in _all_ the history books.

Then she took a seat and flipped to the chapter called, "Loss of the Queen". She glazed over the history she had made herself, the parts about Mustang's startling announcement to Parliament that the country was ready for democracy and he intended to run for president. How he opened himself up to scrutiny and welcomed all questions about his past. How it was Breda's honor to be asked to be his running mate. Finally the words she was looking for, the official statements about the _murder_ of Riza Mustang.

She bit her lip as she read it. The official report was in the appendix, but Breda had been there for the autopsy and had stood watch at the door to make sure it wasn't interrupted.

_Dr. Knox really hoped that he would never have the name Mustang show up on his clipboard or on the toe tags of a body in his morgue. It wasn't Roy, but it wasn't much better that it was the woman he married. He took a while to compose himself before he wheeled the body over to begin his autopsy. He was older but still gruff and yelled at me that he hoped someone was doing a good job of keeping Mustang away from her while he worked. I saw the pain it caused him to do this, even if he was just an old family friend. He was doing this as a favor as Roy needed to hear direct and uncensored answers. He also didn't want to have anyone else touch her that might simply see her as a body and not the woman who won all our hearts._

_Knox usually didn't get involved in the investigations or reports of the incident. He wanted an unbiased medical opinion and in order to do so he had to keep his mind clear of all outside facts. All that mattered was what the body on his table told him. However this time it hit too close to home and he knew the facts because it was all over the news: Mustang's wife saw a reflection off a scope and instinctively moved to shield him, costing her her life. Knox noted the bruising on her sternum, signs that someone tried to resuscitate her. He looked at the placement of the shot and guessed the bullet probably hit a major blood vessel and her death was quick. It was a little high for her heart ….a little high for_ _**her** _ _heart, but probably dead on for her husband who was a good two inches taller than her. It was at that time Dr. Knox told me that he wished he had retired when he was supposed to, retired before he had to be the man to deliver this news to a man who had been through too much already. Like Mustang however, Knox felt a life in service to his country was the only way to pay for his part in the Ishval massacre._

And she slammed the book closed. The important thing was the date of death which was in three days. There was still time to stop this. It was more important to get back to the lab and try to call her grandfather to let him know what was going to happen, more important to get back to a safe place and ensure the message made it though than chance being caught up in something outside. She however needed answers and slipped the book in her satchel along with another few history books to ensure she could pour over the data and formulate a plan. She'd return them later.

* * *

The Fuhrer's phone rang and he almost didn't pick it up. His secretary was doing a better job screening calls now, but everyone was finding a way to sound more urgent in order to talk to the Fuhrer about his insane move. Roy shook his head, the panic in the capital was in full swing and he wanted to just leave them to flounder in their unjustified terror. The only thing he cared about was public's opinion and that had been overwhelmingly positive, everyone else could just get swallowed up by their own ulcers. "Fuhrer Mustang."

" _Grandpa!?"_

"Elizabeth?" Roy sat down and smiled. It was strange how he just accepted this stranger calling him that, weird how getting this call changed his mood.

" _Grandpa, things changed, everything changed."_

"Why...are you crying?" He asked and felt his insides twist. She was crying. No...

" _Something terrible is going to happen and I don't know how long I can help you. On Monday, grandma is going to die. Someone is going to try to assassinate you and she steps in the line of fire..."_

Roy felt the color vanish from his face. Riza? _No._ She was not supposed to pay the price for what he did, not any more than she already had. He sat there in silence as Elizabeth continued to cry. "I won't let that happen."

" _We have to stop this."_

"Tell me how. Tell me everything." Roy said, rebounding immediately to find a way out of this event that had yet to happen: The worst day of his life. There was uncontrollable sobbing on the other end of the line. He softened his voice, trying to be as consoling as possible despite his urge to bark orders and demand answers. "Elizabeth, what do I need to do to stop this from happening?"

" _I don't know. They never caught the killer."_


	4. Vibrations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Theysangastheyslew has made a magnificent piece of fanart for the Maes graduation photo. You should check it out on Tumblr http://theysangastheyslew.tumblr.com/post/155647608544/theysangastheyslew-all-in-the-name-by or on Deviant Art under http://methodformadness.deviantart.com/art/Legacy-656353877

 

 

_Frequency_

Chapter 4

**Vibrations**

* * *

Roy couldn't get home fast enough. He needed to see Riza with his own two eyes, hold her and try not to cry as he thought of her dying in his arms in three days. He ran up the front stairs, opened the door and was greeted by the sounds of a party: Maes's graduation party was just starting and the Elrics were clearly here considering the volume of the voices echoing throughout the house. He tried to not appear like he was on the verge of breaking down as he walked through the foyer and thought he had it under control until he entered the parlor and saw Riza holding a puppy.

She was smiling, that innocent and loving smile that never failed to take his breath away. She was preoccupied as she sat on the floor and tried to fend off the affections of a red Shiba Inu pup who was just determined to lick her in the face. He knew without asking that this was the puppy Maes gave her, the puppy Elizabeth said he gave to her because he knew that they weren't going to march in front of a firing squad the first chance they got. The puppy who was currently making her smile like that first time she held Black Hayate and laughing like the weight of only puppy paws were on her shoulders.

He wasn't sure what made the first tear fall from his eyes: the pup that reminded him of his 'first born son', the radiant smile Riza had on her face because of it, or the fact that his son had grown up knowing they wanted to be tried and convicted of their crimes. Somehow in trying to impress upon him the gravity of their actions Maes had picked up on the fact that a trial was the end game. That was awful and in no way what he wanted his son to grow up dreading or even accepting as his parents final goal in this world. He hated himself for not seeing that, for only seeing what he thought had to be done. That was what got him in this situation in the first place.

Riza saw Roy in the doorway, frozen in place looking like he was going to start crying again for all the dogs they had lost over the years. She stood up, scooping up her new puppy and went over to him. She moved in close to kiss him and held her pup between them both so the squeaks and squirms of the adorable little guy could turn her soft-hearted husband back into he idiot who would declared he loved dogs. She saw him upset and wanted to run interference so Ed wouldn't pick on him. "I named him Blaze."

"That's terrible." Roy had to let out a laugh.

"Thanks for naming me Dad!" Maes hollered and waved. It could have been so much worse than sharing his name with a dead General. He noticed his father looked overwhelmed as he took the new family member into his arms and let him lick his face.

Roy had to smile as the pup licked off the tears and pawed at his nose. "Riza, you _are_ absolutely awful with names."

She kissed him and smiled. "Maes gave him to me. Said I need someone else to baby since he's going East and you work too much."

Roy closed his eyes as he was assaulted by the puppy breath and happy tongue. God how he missed having a dog. "Why didn't you get me one?"

"I haven't even gotten my first paycheck, give me a break." Maes said and picked up the camera to take a picture and then quickly snapped one as both his parents turned to look at him and the puppy slammed his foot into his Dad's eye. Priceless. "Maybe once I get my certification and have two paychecks."

"One is enough." Riza said and took her puppy back. It felt so good to have a dog again. She turned and Maes snapped another picture as she snuggled her precious little dog.

Roy had already lost himself in the moment and it took Maes snapping _that_ picture to remind him of the current danger they were all in. "Fullmetal, can I talk to you in my office?"

"God, I can't believe you're in such a rush to get your damned money back!" Ed screamed. "I fucking knew it was coming."

"Ed, please..." Winry tried to continue but her husband stormed off in a huff mumbling about 'stingy bastard' and 'I should have charged you more for alchemy lessons'.

The rest of the Elric family just went about their business, but Maes snapped another picture of Ed ranting in the hallway at his Dad. Memories worth keeping for sure. He sat down as his Dad just walked away and Ed went after him yelling about calling him Fullmetal _still_ and how he did not have the right anymore to treat him like he was fourteen again by asking him to his office. He couldn't help but smile.

As soon as they reached Roy's office he closed the door as Ed dramatically stormed over to the desk and emptied his pockets. If he had gone about asking him in any other way he would have been in for a fifteen minute discussion about what he needed and why he had to ask it privately and why the hell there were so many bottles of milk in the fridge with his face drawn on them.

Ed threw the 520 Cenz on the Roy's desk and glared at him. "I'm surprised you didn't call me up on stage when you gave your speech in parliament to demand a show of it, _you dick_."

"Ed..." Roy could see Ed smiling. They had known each other for years and taught each other's kids alchemy. They took at least one week of the year to visit with each other's families and they talked on the phone at least once a week. Ed had become a close friend and there was nobody he trusted more with this situation. Unfortunately, from future Ed's mouth himself, he had to be very careful about how he addressed anything in regards to this time manipulation. He didn't want to influence what he would do in the future, Elizabeth had been adamant about that. He couldn't do this alone though, he needed someone who could move freely in the city and had no qualms about calling in favors, asking direct questions or destroying half the city in the process. Even without alchemy, this was still Edward Elric and he would find a way. "This isn't about the money. I need you help."

Ed finally looked at him, really looked at him, and saw a face wracked with worry as he shed the gun belt and worked at unbuttoning his tunic. "Problems with your decision today?"

"You can say that. Have you ever considered manipulating radio frequencies with alchemy?" Roy asked. Despite Elizabeth's warnings there was no way to make Ed understand the situation better than telling him the truth. He could not take any chances with Riza's life, he needed Ed to be as scared as he was of the future.

"No." Ed replied. It was weird Roy wasn't cracking a joke about being loud enough without amplifying his voice, even in the worst circumstances Roy was usually good about keeping morale high. He looked sick. "Are you OK?"

"It's plausible, right?" Roy said. He had to go about making Ed think first, he didn't need him coming in this playing devil's advocate.

"Do you want to broadcast your declaration to run for president across the world and not just Amestris?" Ed asked and watched Roy run his hands through his hair, a nervous habit he had honed in on years ago, followed by him rubbing the back on his neck. "Can you please stop being such a cryptic dick? We're both too old for this."

"Possible, right?" Roy repeated.

"I think we've both seen that anything is possible with alchemy over the years with few exceptions." Ed said and sat down in the cushy chair and thought about it. "Manipulating sound, I've encountered a few alchemists who specialize in it. Why, do you think someone is interfering with broadcasts?"

Roy sat down as soon as he got his coat off. Ed was already trying to focus his thoughts on a specific instance where this could have been used so he could refine what information he was relaying versus talking about a broad spectrum of study. He had to remember this wasn't the old days, he wasn't just giving Ed breadcrumbs so he could find his own answers, he was the one needing a very specific answer. "Not quite. What about using radio frequencies to talk to someone in the past?"

Ed stared at him. Shit, he was being serious. This was a serious question between two alchemists, two alchemists who had seen the gate and all the mysteries it held within it. "You're asking me this because you already know the answer and you want me to listen to what you're going to tell me instead of dismiss it. What did you hear?"

"I miss the days when you weren't skeptical, when you were ready to chase any half-assed theory wherever it lead if it meant you could obtain one grain of truth from it." Roy said and leaned back in his chair. "However even the great Fullmetal Alchemist has become jaded in his old age because you've seen alchemy abused in too many ways and found too many dead ends."

"I got a little jaded because I can't perform alchemy but I still live and breath it." Ed said. "So maybe I'm a little more fixated on the theoreticals of it all now instead of the physical manifestions. I can't just put my hands together and clap anything into existence that I want to. Yeah, I miss it. Every damned day. It's made me view it all from a different perspective, including how you pitch things to me."

"That's just age."

"That's just years of knowing you." Ed said and leaned forward. "So instead of me just spouting off everything I have encountered in my years of research, you're going to have to tell me why you need to know. I think you might forget, in _your_ old age, I have nothing to prove to you anymore as I don't have to try to earn your respect. I have it. So out of respect can we cut out the bullshit and get to what you really are asking?"

"I'm not struggling to tell you the truth because I don't want you to know, I'm actually afraid of the consequences of telling you." Roy rubbed his face with his hand. If he had learned anything recently it was that his actions had a ripple effect that even he hadn't considered. It was part of being an alchemist, understanding _everything_ from beginning to end, but it was painfully human to not fully comprehend how your decisions influenced others in this world. He saw it so clearly now, not just from Elizabeth's account of a future he spent his life trying to stop, but in how Maes feared the day when he left home and left his parents behind to the fate they seemed to want. Hell, Ed was also a prime example of how far reaching his influence had been because he was the one to drag this little shit off his feet and give him a new goal. These thoughts could go on forever and he could feel Ed staring at him, anxiously awaiting for him to continue before he had to start yelling. "Imagine a call from the future telling you how horribly you fucked up. That this plan you had been working towards most of your life that was supposed to be the answer to all the problems you created only erased all the good you had done in just one damned swift move. And you change your direction only to find out the first casualty...is the one person you can't imagine living without."

Ed could hear his voice crack and looked away as Roy wiped his eyes. "I guess I don't have to think that hard to relate to that. If someone told me what would happen that day we did human transmutation and somehow stopped me...I'd erase everything we did on our journey. Everyone we helped, everything we did in the end. Yes, it was a mistake and a painful lesson that we learned but it made us who we are and the world is better for it. We're only human, we aren't perfect. There is no black and white and no definitive answers. So can you please stop being so vague and tell me specifically what happened? This has to do with you deciding to run for President, doesn't it? Riza told me years ago that you two...knew in a better world you would be called on to answer for your actions. Maes..."

" _Fuck_." Roy hissed. He was really a awful father. "He talked to you about this?"

"I'm not just his damned teacher, Roy. " Ed said. "He's been part of my family too and...he's been scared of losing you guys. That kid has always worshiped you and I think understanding what you carried with you along the way made him love you more. Even if he hated you a little for it. We talked about it because he didn't want to interfere with what you and Riza wanted and I had told him a lot about my Dad and how at some point we have to see that our parents are people too. That they sacrificed a lot for us and we need to step back as adults and see the lengths they went to do the right thing."

"That's not what I wanted him to grow up fearing." Roy said.

"He didn't." Ed said. "He just needed to see you from a different perspective. Just like I had to."

"In a different future..." Roy took a deep breath. "I went down that road, I gave power back to the people and stepped aside. I gave myself over to be tried for the crimes I committed. I found peace but at the cost of everyone else's. So this time...or rather instead of that, I chose to keep walking down this path of servitude and protection. To open myself up to criticisms of my past and allow the people of this country to judge me instead of the military. To let them tell me if they wanted to keep me as their leader."

Ed quickly made the connections. The radio frequency modified with alchemy to talk to someone in the past and this statement of two different futures. "Who contacted you? Was it me? Is that why you don't want to tell me what the hell happened for fear of altering a future because I now have knowledge of it?"

"Not you. My granddaughter. She had your help." Roy looked at him and could see the surprise on his face. "In her life she ended up being persecuted for being a Mustang. In her world alchemy is government controlled. You still helped her with this, despite the risks to your family and your life."

"It must have been bad." Ed said. "For me to hand over something this dangerous to someone else, it had to be worth the risk of everything being changed. It's got to be an even worse future if you're risking telling me this and changing a future that has yet to happen. Roy, anything can happen now. A slightest slip up in me researching the wrong thing at the wrong moment, going somewhere I wasn't supposed to..."

"Ed, the major change was when I announced my presidency instead of my resignation. I already changed things." Roy said and put his hands out on the desk to look at his wedding ring. "However...this move has taken my queen instead of leaving her on the board. I felt so confident in this move and I still do, but I am willing to risk my own life and not Riza's. She has always protected me and she...I lose her on Monday. She dies to protect me."

"What?"

Roy could feel the hot tears streaking down his face.. "I had to listen to Breda's recount of her autopsy. Someone tried to kill me and she steps in front of me and takes the bullet instead. She dies in my arms on Monday."

"Then take out the shooter! You know where they're going to be!" Ed could feel panic overwhelming him. Riza meant so much to him too. Roy crying, made it more real. He didn't question any of it.

"Then someone else will replace them." Roy wiped a tear away and tried to get a grip on his emotions. He tilted his head up and looked at a family photo on the wall. "That's the thing Ed, this shooter is just a pawn. The person who ordered this is the one I need to stop in order to avoid having to counter their every move. I have to take one decisive swift action to remove this player from the field not just his pieces."

"Well who the fuck is it!?" Ed demanded. "You have a way to see to the future but you can't actually find out who kills your wife?"

"They never caught the shooter." Roy said. "My investigations will turn up nothing."

Ed wanted to run out and go check on Riza, to make sure she was alright. "We are stopping this."

"I need your help Ed. I can't lose her."

"Do you have a plan?" Ed asked. Of course there was a plan. Mustang always had a plan even if he was just bullshitting something on the spot.

"It has to be someone powerful." Roy said. "Someone with a lot to lose if I continue to shepard this country into democracy. I asked my granddaughter to look into the parliament records because the transcripts would show who lead the push to have the military take control again. She studied under you for a while so breaking and entering isn't a deterent."

"Can she ask someone? You said Breda was there..."

Roy shook his head. "You know, I am going to have lunch with him tomorrow and ask him to be my running mate. Everything is so surreal, steps I haven't taken yet are being told to me as historic events. However if he was able to find any leads he would have pursued them."

"Look, if this individual is planning to assassinate you there has to be some way he goes about hiring this sniper, right?" Ed asked. "Something this big, nobody would take a chance on using someone they know. Right?"

"Right." Roy said and turned back to Ed. His mind started working again and he knew exactly who to talk to. A few years ago it would have been his mother, but she had turned over her bar and information network over to Rebecca Catalina when she retired. Rebecca would be here tonight for Maes's graduation party. He smiled. "Well done, Fullmetal."

Ed smiled and leaned forward. "We know where this sniper is going to be, so if we have to we can always stop them before it happens."

"The way these deals happen are through middle men so that the person hiring never has contact with the individual tasked with the hit." Roy said. "The middle man won't give up a name, and if they do it's probably some lackey sent on behalf of the person we're after. We have one thing on our side, Ed, that is that we know this is going to happen and nobody knows we're looking for them."

"They're trying to kill you." Ed said and tapped his fingers on his leg. "So when they failed, why didn't they try again? You said this happens Monday, you haven't even been elected yet. If you go on to be elected then that defeats the purpose of all this. It stops nothing."

Roy thought about that. When the reports were read to him there was only one shot, the sniper didn't try to correct his mistake. He could have had a clear shot at him but left him alive. "The guilt of knowing she gave her life for me, the loss of the one person..."

"Someone knows you well enough to realize how devastating that loss would be." Ed interrupted before Roy could sink back into a panic over losing his wife. He cocked his head. "Someone who took advantage of an opportunity to let you continue on your path and wait for another opportunity to seize power years later? "

"Clearly they are patient." Roy said. "Patient enough to want to wait until my reign as Fuhrer was over but felt threatened by me heading a country ruled by the people. Patient enough to wait for me to just destroy myself over Riza's death. They would risk making me a martyr but would be willing to seize control of the country before it could become a democracy, yet strategic enough to wait until my presidential term was over to show the people that they wanted the military back in charge to keep problems at bay. They must be the ones who were behind the terrorist plots in Breda's presidency. They tried to show how unstable a country not ruled under an iron fist was. Either by shooting me or by creating chaos."

" _You're_ the target." Ed reminded him. "I agree that there is no limit to the lengths Riza will go to save your dumb ass, but we have to remember _you_ are the target. There was a world so awful I helped your grandkid mess with time in order to call you and tell you to change your mind so you could save the country. We had to save you. We still need to save you."

"No..."

"Yes! Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying we don't protect Riza, I'm saying that we cannot lose our focus on what the problem is. Your enemy is focused on you. We have to maintain that same focus or we're going to be completely wrong on our own target of what we are trying to stop."

"You're right."

"So, exactly how is this shooter able to think so quickly and capitalize on a situation like this? He's not the one calling the shots so how does he go from getting paid to kill you to just settling for an innocent bystander instead."

"That's not how this works. They wouldn't have been paid. They didn't kill the mark." Roy said. He pulled a city map out of his desk drawer and unfolded it on his desk. Suddenly something wasn't sitting right with him and he finally came out of the fog of panic from hearing his wife was in danger. He finally remembered his training and mentally tried to figure out what expertise shooter could pull off that shot. He had a vague idea of distance because Elizabeth had told him this happened outside the radio station after an interview. The sniper was on the old Royal Hotel roof as it was undergoing renovations. He pulled out his ruler and measured, then did a quick calculation on the map's legend to determine how far that building was from where he would be standing. "And a sniper, a good sniper, wouldn't have put themselves in a spot where their scope could have caught a reflection like that. Yet they were good enough to hit a target that accurately from that distance. If I've learned anything from being married to one it's that they never take a shot without being certain of their ability to hit their mark. You don't accidentally hit anything from that distance."

"So what are you saying?" Ed asked.

"I _wasn't_ the target." Roy said. "Someone's trying to kill my wife."


End file.
